I rode 23 miles home after dropping my car off with friends. A lovely summer evening, on some of my favourite roads in the Peak. It was also my last ride before the Friday night ride.
A long road up to Longcliffe, which I usually do the other way around:
This is absolutely one of my favourite descents, long and sweeping before tightening up at the bottom with a series of sharp turns into a steep limestone dale. It's not as much fun to climb it!
After this it was a fast shallow descent to Grangemill and a steady climb to Winster, a largeish village high up in the White Peak:
From this point there is a lovely fast descent into Darley Dale, through Wensley on almost traffic free roads. At weekends these roads can be heavy with traffic, but in the evening and early morning they are usually very quiet and tourist free.
At Darley Dale I began the long climb up to Beeley Moor:
I'm hoping that if I made it up this I should manage Ditchling early Saturday morning. This went on for half a mile, plus another mile of climbing at a lower rate through Peak Forest before reaching the straight road over the top of the Moor and then dropping down into Chesterfield to the chippy and home
